wierd behavior of echo on a Vax

[Kurt Hoyt]

In article <DOB.90Aug13152348 at tws1.inel.gov>, dob at inel.gov (David L. Brooks) writes:

> We've been having some strange problems with logfiles created by scripts,
> recently, and i've narrowed it down to this pattern:
> 
> echo `some basic command` "some other text string" >> logfile
> 
> the behavior is this:  interspersed between each character in the "text
> string" is a rubout, aka /377 character.  this happens only on the Vax
> running Ultrix 3.1.  It works fine on our DECStation 3100's running 3.1D.
> 
> the work around is to do something like this:
> 
> set date=`date`
> echo $date "some other relevant text" >> $LOGFILE
> 
> commands other than date, such as whoami, exhibit the same results.  has
> anyone else run into this?  DEC, any suggestions?
> 
> David L. Brooks

There is a patch at the Support Center in Atlanta for this problem. It is
essentially a new version of /bin/csh. Of course, the problem should also
be fixed in ULTRIX 4.0 (now shipping). If you need the patch, call and ask
for the patched /bin/csh for 3.1. If you can wait for 4.0, please do so.

..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..
Kurt in Atlanta             "More than 4 billion chickens in America
hoyt at decatl.alf.dec.com      each year do not have a single happy moment
hoyt at laura.alf.dec.com       in their lives." -- PETA News